A Meta-Analysis of the Functional Matching Effect Based on Functional Attitude Theory

Abstract

The functional theory of attitudes (Katz, 1960) proposes that if persuasive messages target the reason why the audience possesses an attitude on that subject (the attitude's function) such messages will be more persuasive than if they target a different function. The “functional matching” effect was tested by meta-analyzing 16 articles, which reported 38 relationships between matching and persuasiveness and had a combined sample of 1,460. The functional matching effect was consistently strong across all moderators (r = .37). The use of the self-monitoring scale to identify functions produced a somewhat smaller effect than the average. Research employing other means of identifying attitude functions is called for. No evidence was found consistent with publication bias. Future directions for functional attitude theory research based on these results are discussed.

Notes

Note. The abbreviations for the “Function” column are “Util” = utilitarian, “Social” = social-adjustive, “Value” = value-expressive, “Know” = knowledge, and “All” = all functions were tested together. The abbreviations for the “Type” column refer to how the functions were assigned and are “SM” = self-monitoring scale, “Measured” = measured the attitude functions directly, “Other” = measured other-directedness as an indicator of social-adjustive attitudes, “Induced” = frustrated each attitude to induce a motivation for that function, and “Object” = assigned functions based on the attitude objects themselves.